Sports Terminology as a Source of Synonymy in Language: the Case of Czech

2. Lexical synonymy: adopted definition, sources and functions
To quote Hüllen (2003: 122), “linguistically speaking, the act of translating is nothing 
more than the act of finding interlingual synonyms”. It follows that synonymy is a 
crucial concept as regards both Czech equivalents and their (intralingual) synonyms. In 
keeping with the mainstream approach, the operational definition adopted here views 
lexical synonymy as mutual substitutability between words (lexical units) in context 
ranging from full interchangeability in all contexts to cases of context-specific 
substitutability, i.e. it includes all degrees of synonymy posited, for instance, by Cruse 
(2011: 142): absolute synonymy, propositional synonymy and near-synonymy. Cruse’s 
propositional (cognitive) synonymy defined in terms of mutual entailment in which 
truth conditions are preserved is relatively unambiguous: the semantic differences 
between presumed propositional synonyms involve only differences in non-
propositional aspects of meaning (expressive, stylistic and field-of-discourse). Near-
synonyms share the same core meaning, do not contrast with one another, nevertheless 
they yield different truth conditions. Murphy (2010: 111) describes (cognitive) 
synonyms simply as being denotationally identical, while near-synonyms are not. Thus, 
slang synonyms, for instance, may exhibit additional semantic features, yet still are 
interchangeable with neutral terms in suitable contexts. The cut-off point between near-
synonymy and non-synonymy is not so clear. The study does not distinguish between 
synonyms and near-synonyms as the formation of either type, triggered by Anglicisms, 
equally contributes to the expansion of vocabulary, which is the main concern here.
Additionally, it is important to note which mechanisms are used to form (near-) 
synonyms in language. It appears that their emergence is due to all kinds of 
lexicogenetic processes which draw on both external and internal sources. Synonyms 
from external sources result from borrowing (tapping a foreign language, or a dialect) 
typically as loanwords at different stages of adaptation (material borrowing), including 
hybrid loan blends, or as lexical or semantic calques (structural borrowing). The 
relation between loanwords and their near-synonyms in the recipient language is 
explored by Baeskow and Rolshoven (2018). Internal means producing synonyms 
include morphological word-formation processes (derivation, compounding) and other 
onomasiological processes, such as conversion, shortening, word creation and 
deformation, and onomasiological-semasiological processes, i.e. semantic shift 
(metonymy, metaphor, generalization, and specialization), and last, but not least, word 
combination supplying multi-word units and paraphrases. It is expected that (near-
)synonyms in sports arise primarily from internal sources in reaction to terminological 
Anglicisms.
The existence of synonyms in sports terminology touches on the question of why 
a language acquires new synonyms in the first place. The expansion of vocabulary, i.e. 
the emergence of new words, is usually attributed to three general causes: (a) the 
necessity to name (label) new concepts; (b) the need for syntactic recategorization 
(transposing a concept into a different word-class), and (c) social motivation (ranging 
from novelty seeking and attention raising, the desire for stylistic variation, the 
assertion of one’s social identity, to the expressive indication of one’s attitude and 

---

166
 
Alicante Journal of English Studies
feelings, etc.). Clearly, as synonyms do not name new concepts but give new names to 
the existing ones, only the third cause applies to them. They are the staple of lexical 
variation which is an ineluctable fact of human communication. Without them stylistic 
diversity would disappear, and texts, including sports-related ones, would become 
impoverished, repetitive and monotonous.